


On a Wednesday in a Café

by atticrissfinch



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Cafe AU, M/M, Mundane Magnus Bane/Mundane Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 00:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10477812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atticrissfinch/pseuds/atticrissfinch
Summary: Magnus had drug his heels about dating after Camille, but when Raphael sets him up with a handsome stranger, he might rethink everything he's ever thought about blind dates.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to Begin Again by TSwizzle and this entire scene flashed through my head. So, have some cutesy first meeting Malec ^.^
> 
> Warnings for mentions of bi erasure and shaming.

Magnus was at the café ten minutes early. He wasn’t quite sure what had prompted him to do it; maybe he was just trying to make a good impression. God knows why he’d want to, since this was a stupid idea in the first place. Raph had  _ pestered _ and  _ pestered _ him until Magnus had finally agreed to let him set up this date. A date with a guy who was a complete stranger to Magnus. 

_ “He’s a great guy, I promise, Magnus. Once you get to know him, you’ll love him.”  _

Stupid Raph and his stupid ideas. 

It made it all the more uninviting that Raph’s tastes were not exactly Magnus’s tastes, and the person he had set Magnus up with was a guy. A  _ gay _ guy, from what Raph had told him, so Magnus had no idea what this  _ Alec _ would think about his sexuality. If there’s one thing that Magnus had learned about the NYC gay community, it’s that some of them really were not as open-minded as they thought they were when presented with a bisexual man. Ok, so maybe Magnus _ was _ being a bit exclusionary.

But  _ people in general _ were not as open-minded as they thought they were about bisexuality.

It had made dating difficult and tedious and tinged with futility. Which was why Magnus hadn’t really associated with anyone romantically since Camille. Since somehow in Camille’s mind, “bisexual” became mutually exclusive with “monogamy,” and became synonymous with “selfishness” and “threesomes” and  _ “How the fuck can I trust you if you’ll just spread your legs for any person on the street?”  _ Manipulation and gaslighting had overshadowed every piece of Magnus’s heart that he’d given to the woman he thought was the love of his life.

But despite his aversion to dating, his love and trust for Raph eventually won out. So there Magnus sat: ten minutes early, neglecting his too-hot latte, and tapping his nerves out with his oxfords against the table leg.

The bell above the door chimed, and Magnus’ eyes naturally darted towards the door. A short redheaded girl in a floral dress flounced through the entrance, and Magnus sighed, falling against the back of his chair. He knew this guy wasn’t going to show up ten minutes early. Magnus wasn't going to get his hopes up for it, anyway. He needed to relax.

More times than Magnus could count, he had sat somewhere waiting for Camille while his coffee or food ran cold. She had never respected his, or anyone's, time. It was almost like she thought she was immortal or something—like she had all the time in the world—and it had subsequently made her lethargic and ambivalent to timely plans. Magnus preferred to be on time and not take experiences for granted. Time  _ meant  _ something to him. He liked to think of it as a kind of currency within relationships. And if he was going to spend an abundance of it on another person, they sure as hell better appreciate it. At the end of his relationship with Camille, he had felt emotionally broke—like she had punched a crack into his hourglass and all the sand had steepled onto the floor.  He’s spent the last two years repairing it, and the last thing he wanted was someone else draining his time grain by grain. 

Magnus managed to kill five minutes, burning his tongue only once on his latte before opting to add a little more milk to it to cool it down. He stretched his neck. Cracked his knuckles. Took a few deep breaths. But his last breath got caught in his throat as the bell chimed again. And in walked…well…tall, dark, and handsome. _ Literally.  _ Sweeping brown hair, hazel eyes, legs for days, and tattoos to boot. Magnus tugged at his scarf, straightened out his vest, and cleared his throat. That had to be him. If there was a higher power that cared at all for Magnus,  _ please _ let this be his date.

The man scanned the shop, spinning the ring on his finger subconsciously as he looked around. He stopped spinning it when his eyes landed on Magnus.

_ Those eyes _ .

Magnus decided to take the plunge. “Alec?”

A nervous smile formed on the man’s lips. “Yeah…Mag-Magnus?”

“That would be me.” Magnus lifted himself off his chair, striding towards Alec, exuding all the confidence that he could muster. They couldn’t  _ both _ be awkwardly apprehensive, and Alec comes off to Magnus as a guy who isn’t exactly parading his sexuality in the streets unless it’s an  _ actual _ pride parade. Magnus held his hand out, and Alec took it, giving it a strong single shake before letting their hands fall back to their sides. “You’re early,” Magnus noted, going for an intrigued tone as opposed to accusatory; and fortunately, judging by Alec’s gentle smile, he had succeeded.

“Yeah, I didn’t know if…Well, I just didn’t want to be  _ late _ . Always better to be early than late, I think,” Alec said, scratching the back of his neck while his gaze flickered from the floor back to Magnus’s scarf several times.

“Well, I completely agree, Alec.” Magnus placed a soft, assuring hand on Alec’s shoulder. Alec’s eyes widened momentarily at the contact, but he didn’t pull away. “I’m so used to people being late. It’s refreshing to have someone value my time. It’s a pleasant quality in a person.” 

A faint blush was blooming on Alec’s cheeks as he scratched the back of his neck nervously, but he finally met Magnus’ gaze a little more comfortably. “Yeah, yeah it is.”

“Here, let me buy you a coffee or something,” Magnus offered. “I already got something for myself and I don’t want you to be empty-handed.”

“Oh, no! No, don’t worry about that. I can get it,” Alec protested, grabbing at Magnus’s bicep as he turned in the direction of the cashier, and Magnus felt a burst of warmth in his stomach at the contact. Magnus had  _ never _ been a blusher,  but he could feel the heat start to set into his face, and it caught him off guard. However, he composed himself, for his own sake, and cupped a hand around Alec’s where it was still resting on his arm.

“Hey, it’s a date, isn’t it? It’s on me.” Magnus gestured towards himself and added in a wink.

Alec chewed on his lip for a moment, but nodded, smoothly removing his hand from under Magnus’s hand and tucking it into his pocket. “Okay. Thank you, Magnus,” he said with a smile that showed off his teeth before he looks back to the floor and Magnus can take in his beautifully long lashes. The sound of his name coming from this stunning creature takes the breath out of Magnus for a moment.

“Not a problem. Come on.” Magnus takes a leap of faith and clasps Alec’s hand. Alec smiles this incredible smile—not one with his teeth like last time, but with his lips pressed together like he’s brimming with…something. Something good. Alec allowed himself to be led to the counter without much resistance, but still gave one more objection when Magnus actually paid for his cappuccino. Magnus bumped his shoulder playfully into Alec on the way back to the table, and a smile lit up Alec’s face that stayed there as he reached to pull out the chair opposite Magnus’s. 

Magnus extended a hand and grabbed hold of the chair before Alec could and pulled it out for him. “Please, allow me.” he said, gesturing to the chair. Alec’s smile widened that much more, his cheeks reddening as he took the offered seat. “Thank you. You’re very sweet.” 

“Well, I pride myself on being a gentleman, above all.” Magnus responded with a grin as he slid into his own seat. “So. Alec. Is that short for anything?”

Alec took a quick sip of his cappuccino, wiping the slight bit of foam from his lip. “Alexander.”

_ “Alexander…” _ Magnus mused. “How regal. Then again, as handsome as you are, you could be a Disney prince.”

Alec’s head flew back with an adorable laugh. “Yeah, right. I’m definitely not any kind of royalty.”

The carefree way he laughed entranced Magnus. The way his eyes lit up and sparkled with mirth and a hint of childlike innocence--it was beautiful and revitalizing. Magnus wanted to wrap himself in that laugh like a blanket. “Does anyone ever call you that? Alexander, I mean?”

“Only my parents when they’re upset with me.” he said, raising an eyebrow as he took another drink.

“Would you be terribly offended if I called you Alexander? I just like the flow of it, how it rolls off the tongue…” Magnus winked at him, and Alec gave a small laugh.

“No, not at all. I mean, it is my name, so.”

“Fair enough,  _ Alexander _ .”

“Is Magnus your real name? It’s very unique,” Alec said, circling the rim of his cup with his index finger, and Magnus found himself staring at the tiniest details of this man.

“It is. My parents were…interesting people to say the least,” he shared, still mesmerized by Alec’s finger.

“Were?”

Magnus’s eyes snapped back up to the boy. The incredibly  _ perceptive _ boy. “Yes. Were. They passed away when I was young.”

“Oh, god, I’m sorry,” Alec said, extending his hand and covering Magnus’s own..

“Thank you.” He smiled at Alec. “But it’s all in the past, you know? Everything is in the past. What matters is now.” Magnus locked eyes with the boy, and he felt  _ something _ . Not just warmth per se, but a strange cocktail of sensations. Familiarity. Passion. Unpredictability. Comfort. It was heady and unparalleled and Magnus wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. “What matters is the future.”

“Right,” Alec agreed and glanced down at his half-empty cappuccino, smiled, and lifted it. “To the future.”

Magnus cracked a smile to match, and lifted his own paper cup. “And to now.”

They clinked their cups and each took a sip.

“You know…I was really,  _ really _ nervous about this,” Alec admitted. “But I’m actually really glad Raphael set this up. I’ve been struggling with a lot of shit lately, with work and personal stuff. It’s just…nice to have something feel…simple. Easy.” He stared at his hand still on top of Magnus’. Then he slowly tucked his fingers underneath and clasped them together, meeting Magnus’ eyes.

Magnus finished that breath that he couldn’t when Alec first walked in, and everything felt…light. “I completely understand. I got out of a relationship with this girl a little over two years ago that was…not healthy at all. It’s been taxing recovering from that, to say the least.”

“I remember Raphael mentioning that you were bisexual,” Alec said, and Magnus tensed up slightly. “I mean I don’t exactly know what that’s like. The one relationship I had with a girl was very, very forced for both of us. For the sake of our parents. I definitely knew I was gay, and luckily we realized how stupid and pointless it all was before things got too serious. I honestly can’t imagine how hard it must be for you to deal with the judgment.”

Magnus’s eyes widened in surprise. “I—yeah. Yeah, it can be rough sometimes.”

“What I mean is…people  _ know _ I’m gay. Like, I am only interested in boys. It has to be difficult to have people asking if you’re  _ actually  _ gay or  _ actually _ straight all the time. My little sister has given me some insight into it, though. So I guess I have a bit of understanding, but not completely, obviously.”

“Your sister is bisexual?” Magnus leaned forward with curiosity.

“She is. Yeah, my sister Izzy actually fell in love with her ex-boyfriend’s best friend. That’s a funny story…you should hear it sometime.” Alec laughed.

“I’d love to,” Magnus said, smiling broadly in response to Alec’s angelic laugh. “Honestly, I’d love to hear you say anything at all,” Magnus said boldly.

Alec smiled down at the table. He dodged the compliment by taking a long sip from his drink, finishing it off. Everything about this boy hypnotized Magnus, from the way he held his cup to the way the corners of his mouth curved while he spoke. Magnus couldn’t stop himself from trying to imagine how this boy looked in every single possible scenario. Not just the nefarious ones, but also the average ones—the brash and the banal. He wanted to be able to witness every facial expression he had to offer, every hand gesture, every stretch of muscle.

“Hey, let’s get out of here,” Magnus proposed, wanting to start this study as soon as possible. “We can go take a walk or something. And you can tell me that story about your sister.”

“Yeah?” Alec asked, a little bashfully.

Magnus stood and offered his hand to Alec, who took it without hesitation. “Absolutely,” he assured, “I have all the time in the world.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading <33 Please leave comments and kudos and i'll love you forever


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